The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has denied the petition of Sankyu-ATS Consortium-B against the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for P2.5 million tax refund for alleged excess and unutilized input value-added tax (VAT) for the fourth quarter of 2018.

Sankyu-ATS, a logistics services firm, filed on No. 23, 2020 its claim for tax refund but it was denied by the BIR on April 23, 2021 for not complying with the complete documentary requirements and failure to file within the prescribed period.

With the denial, the firm filed a petition for review before the CTA on May 21, 2021. It told the tax court that it successfully filed its administrative claim for refund within the prescribed period and that the non-acceptance of its administrative claim for VAT refund was bereft of legal basis.

For its part, the BIR said that the CTA has no jurisdiction over the petition and explained that it is incumbent upon Sankyu-ATS to prove that it is indeed entitled to the refund sought because a claim for refund is not ipso facto (by the fact itself) granted upon the filing of the claim.

Ruling on the issue, the CTA said the petition of Sankyu-ATS had to fail because no documents were submitted to substantiate its alleged zero-rated sales. The court also said that the firm "has fallen short in establishing that it is engaged in zero-rated or effectively zero-rated sales for taxable year 2018."

"Party-litigants must prove every minute aspect of their case. The burden is on the taxpayer to show that it has strictly complied with the conditions for the grant of the tax refund or credit," the CTA pointed out. 

The 23-page decision was written by Associate Justice Catherine T. Manahan with the concurrence of Associate Justices Marian Ivy F. Reyes-Fajardo and Henry S. Angeles.